Wiesbaden-Biebrich

Biebrich Castle

Biebrich is a borough of the city Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany, located in the Rhine-Main-Area near Frankfurt. Biebrich was an independent city until it was incorporated into Wiesbaden in 1926.

History

Biebrich was first mentioned in 874 as villa biburc. Until the 20th century Biebrich was a small town (or rather village) and the Summer Residence of the Princes (Fürsten) and (since 1806) Dukes of Nassau, who built up an imposing baroque castle (1700–1744, Architects: Maximilian v. Welsch / Friedrich Joachim Stengel) with a landscape garden (Friedrich Ludwig v. Sckell, 1817–23) at the banks of River Rhine.

In the 19th century, Biebrich became an important industrial center of the Rhine-Main-Area with the plants of Dyckerhoff (Concrete), Kalle and Albert (Chemistry), and Henkell (sparkling wine = Sekt). In the economical crisis of the post-world-war-I-Era, the small town, struck hard by unemployment of the majority of his working-class residents, merged with the bigger and much wealthier nearby spa city of Wiesbaden. Today, Biebrich is the biggest suburb of Wiesbaden with about 35.000 inhabitants.

Famous residents of Biebrich

In 1862, Richard Wagner lived for one year in a new-built country house (later called Villa Annika) near the castle at the bank of the river Rhine, working on the first act and the prelude of the third act of Die Meistersinger. He influenced a local producer of wind instrument, Wilhelm Heckel, who invented, following the wishes of the famous composer, the so called "Heckelphone" (a basso-oboe, used by Richard Strauss, Paul Hindemith and others).

Seligmann Baer (1825–1897), a Biblical scholar and scholar of Jewish liturgy, was born and died in Biebrich, where he lived much of his life.

Wilhelm Dilthey (1833–1911) and Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl (1823–1897), two pioneers of the early German "Kulturgeschichte" (cultural studies) of the 19th century, grew up in Biebrich.

In 1880, General Ludwig Beck was born in Biebrich; he lost his life struggling against Hitler's Regime in the failed revolt of German officers on the 20 July 1944. If this coup d'etat would have succeeded, Beck was nominated by his conspirators as the first-to-be post-war President of Germany.